HOLDING OUT HOPE: Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride is still searching for the opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL again. Photo: Joseph E. Amaturo

HOLDING OUT HOPE: Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride is still searching for the opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL again. (
)

If Kevin Gilbride were 30-something, he’d be the hottest head coaching prospect in the NFL.

Think about it. The Giants offensive coordinator has developed and groomed one of the elite quarterbacks in the league in Eli Manning, serving as first his quarterbacks coach and now offensive coordinator during his eight-year career.

Gilbride’s offense is in the midst of a record-setting season and receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks have flourished in his system. He’ll also be calling plays in his second NFC Championship in four years when the Giants face the 49ers on Sunday.

Considering the premium on developing quarterbacks these days — see the Jets — you would think someone would notice Gilbride as a potential head coaching prospect, which is exactly what he wants to be.

At age 60 in his 23rd NFL season, Gilbride hasn’t given up on being an NFL head coach again, a position he held with the Chargers during the 1997-98 seasons.

“No, not at all,” he told the Post while heading to an offensive meeting yesterday.

Gilbride is hoping general managers and owners around the league see value in an experienced coach who has achieved consistent success.

“Hopefully, people are acknowledging what we’ve done and appreciate the work we’ve done developing all these young players and say, ‘Hey, that’s something we’d like to do at our place,’ ” he said.

Manning has gotten most of the credit for the success of the Giants offense this season, and deservedly so. But credit should also go to Gilbride and an offensive system deeply rooted in the Run-and-Shoot he popularized as the offensive coordinator in Houston during the mid-1990s. The last thing you might associate the Giants with is the Run-and-Shoot, but its concepts are what have made the Giants as explosive as they are this season.

The offense is based on receivers being able to read coverages along with the quarterback and react in synch. It’s something Gilbride wasn’t sure Cruz could pick up as quickly as he has in his slot position.

“That position in what we do has a chance to make a lot of plays,” Gilbride said. “You just hope you’ve got a guy that has enough quicks to do that. Not everybody has the courage and quickness. [Cruz] does. Did I know he would be this good this quickly? No. I don’t think anybody did.”

Manning said Gilbride has “a quarterback mentality” and they have worked together for so long they share the same thinking.

“A lot of times, he doesn’t have to finish his sentence,” Manning said. “I’m already on the same page.”

With Run-and-Shoot roots that run deep, Gilbride wouldn’t mind throwing the ball on just about every down. It’s an approach that caused Buddy Ryan to take a swing at him along the Houston sidelines in 1994. Ryan was the Oilers defensive coordinator and thought Gilbride should have been running the ball.

“You hate to be associated with that,” Gilbride said of the incident. “That was a whole sordid part of the past.”

Yet, Gilbride admits running the ball is important to have success as an offense.

“There’s no question it does give your lineman a better chance to protect because the defense has to play the run a little bit more and aren’t just pinning their ears back,” he said. “And if you really run the ball well, you get a component that you don’t get in a Run-and-Shoot and that’s the play-action pass.”

Gilbride was 6-16 as the Chargers head coach, but with the Bucs showing interest in 68-year-old Marty Schottenheimer, Gilbride isn’t too old to get a second shot at being a head coach. That’s if anyone is noticing.